Peau d'Espagne 1901

Peau d'Espagne by Santa Maria Novella
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7.7 / 10 60 Ratings
A popular perfume by Santa Maria Novella for men, released in 1901. The scent is spicy-leathery. It is still in production.
Pronunciation
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Main accords

Spicy
Leathery
Smoky
Woody
Floral

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes Top Notes
Calabrian bergamotCalabrian bergamot JasmineJasmine
Heart Notes Heart Notes
HawthornHawthorn Violet leafViolet leaf
Base Notes Base Notes
Birch woodBirch wood
Ratings
Scent
7.760 Ratings
Longevity
7.852 Ratings
Sillage
7.150 Ratings
Bottle
7.543 Ratings
Value for money
8.019 Ratings
Submitted by Ripieno, last update on 07/31/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to
Peau d'Espagne (2022) by Oriza L. Legrand
Peau d'Espagne (2022)

Reviews

9 in-depth fragrance descriptions
9
Scent
DrB1414

248 Reviews
DrB1414
DrB1414
Helpful Review 4  
The "Butch" Peau D'Espagne
A caveat. My review is based on an older, frosted bottle, hence, it might not smell like the ones Santa Maria Novella is selling today.

This perfume is a tour-de-force on smoky birchwood and "leather" accord built around that and other materials (perhaps some animalics), with prominent flint-like/metallic and ashy nuances. I detect a quick burst of citrus and herbs in the opening for a couple of minutes, after which it goes dark and medieval with no return or glimmers of light. To my nose, no florals or resins to pamper the composition. Nada. It is heavy, smoky, and woody, with that ashy, cold metal feel and brown leather accord holding through the dry-down. I also don't get the civet, although it is listed, yet I'm sure they use some musks to create the leather sensation. This is a butch leather perfume that smells very ancient and medieval. I think of a massive fireplace with logs of birchwood fueling the fire that helps dry some leather garments resting on the cold stone pavement of the hall nearby. Some armory sits close since I can't shake the metallic and flint-like smell out of my mind. The perfume smells like it was put together at the beginning of the apothecary that Santa Maria Novella was centuries ago. I'm also impressed with the quality of the materials in this perfume. I can tell they are using a few, but very high-quality raw materials. I don't think I have smelled a better note of birchwood in a perfume before. I can almost see and feel the wood and its texture with my nose.

In a nutshell, this is a beautiful smoky-leather perfume, grandiose in its butch and rough representation, although not exactly what I have in mind when I think of a proper "Peau D'Espagne" accord. But if you want a trip back in time, centuries ago, this one is very much worth the journey.

IG:@memory.of.scents
0 Comments
9
Pricing
9
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
8
Scent
Wayofscent

62 Reviews
Wayofscent
Wayofscent
4  
Boots of Spanish leather
Imagine this: medicine, horses, stables, sweat, leather gloves and sex! This is exactly how this spanish leather smells!

Personally I get a lot of medicinal and sorta herbal nuances with something burning in the background. I picture a small medieval town and apothecary with dusty wooden shelves full of all sorts of medicine bottles driping on the already soaked wooden floor, making that aromatic feel in the air which is intertwined with sweaty tanned leather gloves, horse stables nearby and maybe even a breeze from a brothel across the street!

0 Comments
5
Bottle
7.5
Sillage
7.5
Longevity
6
Scent
Drseid

821 Reviews
Drseid
Drseid
2  
Challenging Camphorous Leather...
Peau d'Espagne opens with an almost camphorous mix of heavy herbs, creating a menthol-like accord. It is quite challenging, but not unpleasant. This open very slowly recedes but never dissipates, instead allowing a rather strong birch leather note to emerge and take the fore. By this time the overall scent is much more wearable and enjoyable. I have a hard time identifying any other individual notes here, as the herbal mix still obscures a lot of anything else the scent has to offer. Projection is good, and longevity is above average.

Peau d'Espagne is definitely not my kind of leather scent. That said, I don't dislike it either. The opening is tough to get through due to that herbal eucalyptus mix that is just downright potent. If you can make it past the opening and early heart notes, then there is a decent leather here to discover... The problem is I fear most, myself included will not want to experience the couple hours of Peau d'Espagne in order to get the relatively good payoff much later when there are so many good leather offerings on the market, both classic and contemporary. I definitely think Peau d'Espagne is a nice scent in its own way and recommend a sniff to leather fans, but I think I will keep to more pleasant leathers like Cuiron and Cuir Pleine Fleur. I give Peau d'Espagne a 3 out of 5 rating and a strong neutral.
0 Comments
ClaireV

958 Reviews
ClaireV
ClaireV
2  
Sexy, brooding, and tough - not for wusses
Peau d'Espagne (Spanish Leather) is a brash, dark leather fragrance that drills home its point without losing the plot somewhere over amberland or vanillaville. Unlike cuirs de Russie (Russian leathers), leather fragrances classified as peau d'espagne (Spanish leather) types do not rely primarily on birch tar for their smoky, leathery effect, but instead recreate it through the use of a complex locking system of various dry herbs, flowers (carnation), and dusty woods.

The Peau d'Espagne type of leather came about from the process of curing the leather for fine ladies' gloves with a sweet-smelling mixture of flowers and botanical essences, which of course masked the terrible stench of uncured leather. Peau d'Espagne is the oldest, and finest, surviving representative of this type of leather, and although it does contain a small amount of rectified birch tar, its total effect owes more to its complex floral construction than to birch tar. Although it plainly skews masculine, I think this could be phenomenally sexy on the right woman - a bad-ass perhaps, or if playing against type, a quiet, feminine girl who wants her aura to read as unexpectedly kinky.

The leather note is strong and dry, a piece of raw cowhide waiting to be tanned in a vat of dyes. But though it is dark, it is also fresh with an underbelly of green herbs, camphor, and even a touch of mint flooding the gloom with slivers of light. The florals lend their effect rather than a distinct aroma of their own - the carnation note gives a flourish of clove-scented powder to the leather, and the violet leaf a sharp, green, almost metallic edge.

As with a few other Santa Maria Novella fragrances, there is a distinctly antiseptic note floating through the heart here, almost like TCP or germolene. This adds a pleasantly medicinal touch, and replicates somewhat the balance achieved in something like Tubereuse Criminelle between the floral, creamy side and the harsh, wintergreen aspect. It is this antiseptic mouthwash note that brings together all the other elements - the leather, the herbs, the carnation, the tar. A striking, if rather rough leather fragrance in a tradition of Peau d'Espagne that is no longer in fashion.
0 Comments
9
Pricing
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
9.5
Scent
BobbyGee

230 Reviews
BobbyGee
BobbyGee
1  
Santa Maria Novella / Peau d'Espagne
This time I will not write about the notes. My colleagues, predecessors, wrote beautifully and comprehensively.
The smell of "Spanish leather" is a very realistic leather smell, which I associate with 3 images placed in time.
1. The first picture consists of historical times, where Spain, and especially its southern part, used to be a great power. These are leather gloves, pants, shoes of some Spanish conquistador and the saddle, homonto and bridle of the horse with which he stands.
In addition to this painting, there is one more - also from that period (which you can feel while visiting those areas today) - the leather covers of walls in the Alhambra, castles and palaces made in Andalusia - including Cordoba, Seville or Granada, and leather covers of old books and manuscripts. These skins were previously prepared, tanned, shaped, painted and decorated with gold. Whoever visited these buildings and such rooms knows this smell. Pungent and strong leather odor.
2. The second image is an image of leather products - especially those where you can feel the body heat, the engine and testosterone which naturally heat the skin on the "naked body" - I mean gloves ... present leather gloves after a fast car drive, in which you can also smell the leather upholstery.
3.Picture third - is a vision combining these 2 earlier images and will be a bridge between 2 historical periods - the medieval one in Spain and the one present in the sports and leather interior of the vehicle and leather gloves - it is a leathercraft workshop and the smell of leather processed in it, in which it does not matter what period, but similarly all kinds of leather goods are made ... ordered according to the different needs of mankind of a given era.
I honestly and highly recommend getting to know this fragrance, which despite the name - cologne - has very good parameters.
Aaaaa, just to add a little bit of history- Officina Santa Maria Novella- is a brand that OFFICIALLY was founded in 1612 in Renaissance FLORENCE (over 400 years ago, right after the times when Poles taught to eat French with cutlery The first perfumes were composed in honor of Catherine de Medici in 1533 on the occasion of her wedding with Henry II (yeah, 1533 - it's not a mistake and you can get to know and buy this fragrance!).
While in Florence, I recommend getting to know the historical building where the historical herbal plant was located until 1848, and then the main perfumery of the Santa Maria Novella brand in Renaissance Florence (a beautiful Renaissance building, history, rooms and paintings).
There is one more flavor - the perfume "Spanish leather" was produced in 1901 and is still TIMELESS - can you believe it? (back to the past and to the present), as well as some other perfumes that are dated, for example, to 1828 or 1533. This is also not a mistake !!!
Ti raccomando moltissimo :-)
0 Comments
More reviews

Statements

5 short views on the fragrance
PatronrPatronr 3 years ago
6
Bottle
7
Sillage
6
Longevity
8
Scent
Raw leather. Strong, spicy.
0 Comments
BertolucciKBertolucciK 3 months ago
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
7
Longevity
9
Scent
Vintage leather gloves and sweet sweaty skin, from the hawthorn with civet. Smoky birch, an ozonic violet leaf and a whiff of white florals.
0 Comments
DinoRDinoR 4 months ago
10
Bottle
9
Sillage
9
Longevity
10
Scent
One of the best and most unique leather colognes. At the same time classical and modern, easily unisex scent. Powerful.
0 Comments
SixAmbregrisSixAmbregris 1 year ago
Full pyramid:
Bergamotto di Calabria/Gelsomino/Fiori di Garofano
Legno di Cedro/Neroli/Violetta Foglie
Zibetto Resinoide/Legno di Betulla
0 Comments
BoBoChampBoBoChamp 5 years ago
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
8
Scent
A rather heavy fresh and spicy floral-leathery Mid season fragrance, slowly balanced by a clean and soft dry woody base. More masculine.
0 Comments

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